Amendments Y and Z pass to bring new redistricting commissions to Colorado.

Colorado voters on Tuesday formally limited the influence of politicians and lobbyists in redistricting and gave unaffiliated voters an equal voice in redistricting as Amendments Y and Z both surpassed the 55 percent support needed for passage.

The bipartisan measures passed easily – each with 71 percent support as of 8:30 p.m. – making Colorado a national model for redistricting reform and paving the way for Colorado voters to pick their politicians, not the other way around.

Independent commissions, consisting of four Republicans, four Democrats and four unaffiliated voters, will now oversee the map-drawing processes for congressional redistricting and legislative reapportionment.

“Colorado has done what no other state has done before.

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We are giving independent voters an equal voice and equal seat at the table,” said Kent Thiry, Campaign Co-Chair of Fair Maps Colorado and DaVita Healthcare CEO. “The rest of the nation is looking to us as the example on how to get rid of gerrymandering and to lay the foundation for government that works for citizens,” he said.

Leading the campaign effort alongside Thiry was Joe Zimlich of the Bohemian Group and Heidi Ganahl, a CU Regent-at-Large and founder of Camp Bow Wow. The Fair Maps Colorado campaign received unprecedented support from more than 400 individuals and organizations spanning the political spectrum.

“This was an incredible effort of cooperation and bipartisan collaboration for an issue that is critical to Colorado and its communities moving forward. In Colorado, gerrymandering is now outlawed, minorities are protected, and communities of interest will have a stronger voice,” said Zimlich.

“I’m so proud to have been a part of this bipartisan effort to ensure that voters are actually choosing their representatives and holding them accountable. These decisions matter, and I feel great that the district lines are no longer in the hands of a single judge,” added Ganahl.

Both measures were referred to the ballot through the Colorado legislature without a single “no” vote. These amendments simply make sense for Colorado.

Amendments Y &Z will guide redistricting in Colorado after the 2020 Census, when the state is expected to gain an eight congressional seat and the 100 legislative districts are redrawn.

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